Slow system

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

I'm sure this will be an easy question for someone out there. Since I bought
my laptop 2 years ago it's been getting slower and slower. I always keep
plenty of memory free and avoid having too many programs installed, but it
doesn't seem to help. Often I just have to sit there for ten minutes or more
while the computer whirs away, obviously very busily doing something, until
it finally stops doing whatever it needed to do and can get back to letting
me do some work.

What can I do to get my laptap back to the speed it used to have? Is this
something that Windows XP does over time? Can I fix it?
 
That's great, thanks Jupiter Jones [MVP]. I'll work through those suggestions
in the next day or so.

Cheers
 
In
Fidel said:
I'm sure this will be an easy question for someone out there.
Since I
bought my laptop 2 years ago it's been getting slower and
slower. I
always keep plenty of memory free
Click to expand...


Wanting to minimize the amount of memory Windows uses is a
counterproductive desire. Windows is designed to use all, or
nearly all, of your memory, all the time, and that's good not
bad. Free memory is wasted memory. You paid for it all and
shouldn't want to see any of it wasted.



Windows works hard to find a use for all the memory you have all
the time. For example if your apps don't need some of it, it will
use that part for caching, then give it back when your apps later
need it. In this way Windows keeps all your memory working for
you all the time.


and avoid having too many programs
installed,
Click to expand...


What you have installed is completely irrelevant. What you have
*running* may affect your performance, but what you have
installed has no negative effects except for the amount of disk
space it takes up (normally so little as to be inconsequential).

but it doesn't seem to help. Often I just have to sit
there for ten minutes or more while the computer whirs away,
obviously very busily doing something, until it finally stops
doing
whatever it needed to do and can get back to letting me do some
work.

What can I do to get my laptap back to the speed it used to
have? Is
this something that Windows XP does over time?
Click to expand...


No, absolutely not.

Can I fix it?
Click to expand...


Sure, but you haven't told us anything that will help. As a first
step, have you checked for spyware, and if so how? Spyware
problems are the answer to many questions like this.
 
Hi Ken
So far I've installed and run Microsoft's Antispyware software along with
regular scans using Adaware and Spybot. Jupiter Jones [MVP] suggested several
spyware scans at http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/slowcom.htm and I've tried
those too.

I hear what you're saying that the number of programs running is more of an
issue than the amount of free memory. As a first step, how can I see the
number of programs running at any one time? I think that could be an issue
with my system.

Apart from that my next step will be to sort out Disk Scan - I can't get it
to work. Do you think that could be related?

Many thanks
 
In
Fidel said:
Hi Ken
So far I've installed and run Microsoft's Antispyware software
along
with regular scans using Adaware and Spybot. Jupiter Jones
[MVP]
suggested several spyware scans at
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/slowcom.htm and I've tried those
too.
Click to expand...


OK, that's good.


I hear what you're saying that the number of programs running
is more
of an issue
Click to expand...


No, I didn't say that. Although lots of people say that, I
disagree. Despite what many people tell you, you should be
concerned, not with how many background programs you run, but
which. Some of them can hurt performance severely, but others
have no effect on performance.


than the amount of free memory.
Click to expand...


That's not an issue at all. Free memory is *bad*, not good, as I
said.

As a first step, how can
I see the number of programs running at any one time? I think
that
could be an issue with my system.
Click to expand...


Not the number of them, but *which*. Yes, that could very well be
an issue.

On each program you don't want to start automatically, check its
Options to see if it has the choice not to start. Many can easily
and best be stopped that way. If that doesn't work, run MSCONFIG
from the Start | Run line, and on the Startup tab, uncheck the
programs you don't want to start automatically.

Don't just stop programs from running willy-nilly. What you
should do is determine what each program is, what its value is to
you, and what the cost in performance is of its running all the
time. You can get more information about these with at
http://castlecops.com/StartupList.html. If you can't find it
there, try google searches and ask about specifics here.

Once you have that information, you can make an intelligent
informed decision about what you want to keep and what you want
to get rid of.


Apart from that my next step will be to sort out Disk Scan - I
can't
get it to work. Do you think that could be related?
Click to expand...


Disk Scan? Do you mean scandisk? There is no scandisk in Windows
XP; chkdsk is the XP equivalent.

Please clarify what you mean, and then explain what "I can't get
it to work" means. Exactly how do you try, and exactly what
happens? If you get an error message, please quot eit verbatim.
 
Back
Top